Joint Effort
by Punzie the Platypus
Summary: Set to be during 2S: EP 8. David comes home from a long day of being sheriff to argue with Regina about Henry, who is having one of his fitful, heated dreams in the netherworld.


**Thank You, God, for everything.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Once Upon A Time. Okay, so I finished episode 8 of the second season. So I'm still working through to catch up, but this sort of came to mind when Henry woke up to both Regina and David waiting for him during that episode. This was the night before. :)**

David's keys rattled in the doorknob to Snow and Emma's apartment, and the door finally opened, allowing him into the slightly lit, expansive room. He let out a sigh as he closed the door behind him and wiped a hand through his hair. It had been a long day, obviously. There had been a few things to be discussed with several people, including Ruby and Leroy, and he had had to drive all over Storybrooke and it was now past ten and he was exceptionally tired.

He set his keys on the counter and heard, "You're home late."

He turned to see Regina in a chair by Henry's bed, her arm over the back of it, matter-of-factness in her voice.

"Yeah," he said, approaching the two. "Being sheriff in a confused town can make you come home late." He let out a breath and said, "Thanks for looking after Henry. How'd he go to sleep?"

"Very unwillingly," Regina said, cocking her head. "He tried to get me to play cards to extend past his curfew. There was pleading, begging, but he resigned to his fate eventually."

"Hate to think how such a little kid can be so fearful of going to sleep," David said, standing before his grandson's bed. The little boy was snuggled in a bunch of blankets, his face slightly pink, his hands in fists around the corners of the blankets. He looked a little pained, and David said, "Has he been tossing and turning?"

"No. I think he's been learning to control his actions more, thanks to Gold," Regina said. She did, however, reach over and grasp his arm, revealing its bare skin from underneath his blue pajama top. "Though, I fear this has gotten worse."

David looked over at it, his eyebrows furrowed slightly in alarm. The burn had grown from Henry's wrist to his arm, all crackly and pink and dry and with patches of pale brown. David had seen many burns; he had gotten a lot himself, and he knew this was bad.

"Gold hasn't been very helpful, then," David said. He sighed. "He shouldn't have to go through this; he's only ten, he's just a little kid." He looked away, shaking his head, angry at the magic that had done this to his grandson, whom he wanted to protect but couldn't.

"As children, we had been through far worse," Regina whispered, though trying not to be unkind.

Of course, this was Regina, though. David turned to her and said angrily, "Yes, but he was never supposed to have this happen. He was never supposed to get cursed. He was never supposed to be so ill-afflicted as everyone else in this town!"

Regina straightened, frowned slightly, and looked to David's face with a cool face. "Are you saying that I am the reason my son is suffering as he is?"

"Of course, Regina," David said. "Look, because you were bent on revenge on every single one of us who you think has done you wrong, you hurt the one you love! Magic has a price, Regina, and now we've got the consequences to face, which Henry is facing."

Regina looked down, bitten by his words, at her son, and took his right hand in hers, holding it gently to her. "I never meant to hurt Henry. He has done nothing wrong; I never meant to do so ill toward him, David, you know that." She looked at the prince almost defiantly. "So don't you dare accuse me of trying to hurt my son. I've been trying to protect him as my mother never protected me!"

David let out another sigh and sank into a chair at the foot of the bed. He closed his eyes, his arms sitting on the armrests, and said, "There's always that, isn't there? One good parent, one bad parent? They're supposed to love their children, try to protect them. But then . . . magic, and revenge gets in the way."

"Are you talking of your own parents?" Regina wondered, looking suspicious of David's suddenly tired, resigned voice.

"My parents. Snow's parents. Your parents." Regina looked away from him then. He was right. Her father, Henry, tried to protect her. He hadn't the power to be able to, though. She had been forced to marry against her will. And then her mother . . . Regina let out a scoff. Don't let her get started on Cora.

"That's just how our stories go, unfortunately," Regina said. She took in a sharp breath. "That is why I was glad that Henry grew up in a land without magic."

David's eyes opened. "Causes more problems than the solutions are worth, huh?"

"Of course," Regina said. She shook her head and looked back at Henry's arm. "I'm going to need some ointment for that or something."

"I think Snow might have burn cream in the medicine cabinet," David said, standing up slowly. He crossed over to the bathroom, leaving Regina to look worriedly over her son. She wondered what it was like in that world he was dreaming. From his terror, it must be horrible.

David returned and applied a generous dab of the cream onto Henry's injury. Despite the rubbing in, it did little to affect it.

"It has no help on magical injuries. Nothing in this particular world used for regular injuries can be used on it," Regina whispered, almost to herself.

David threw the tube of medicine away to the table by Henry's bed. "Now you tell me."

"I'm sorry," Regina said as David sunk into his chair once more.

David didn't say a word in reply to her but just looked at his grandson in his heated sleep. "So there's nothing we can do for him."

Regina shook her head regretfully. "No. There is nothing we can do but wait."

"And stay by him, then," David said.

"Which I have been doing all day," Regina pointed out.

David nodded. "And I thank you for that."

Regina looked a little surprised.

David let out a sigh. "With matters with town, I never thought I was going to ever say this, but I don't know what I'd do without you, Regina."

"It's been my pleasure," Regina said quietly.

David accepted this and leaned back in his chair, letting out a breath. It was unspoken between the two that neither was going to leave Henry. Taking care of him was a joint effort. His mother was gone and so was his grandmother, and they were the only real family he had left. And they weren't going to leave him.

**Thanks for reading!  
**


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